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Saturday, 11 May 2013

Bout of Books 7.0

Goals + Updates

Time devoted to reading:
We're back on track with Bout of Books starting on book group day again. So I probably won't be contributing much on the Monday and then I'll have to write up my notes which seems to take me much longer than writing a review for me. So Wednesday to Sunday I will be reading as much as possible (evenings only during the week) to make up for lost time.

Goals:
De-stress
Do not waste hours clicking around on the internet without purpose
Comment on as many participating blogs as I can
Read at least one personal read
Read lots of digital shorts to make myself look productive
Join in two Twitter chats.

Books to read:

That looks like loads but five of them are actually novellas. Of course, I might change some of these, especially if I overdose on chick-lit. Hopefully I will have Dead Ever After next week too... Argh! The choices!

Updates:

Monday

Waaaaah! Why oh why was book spine poetry on the day I was too busy to do a challenge? I may just do one anyway this week, just for me. So yeah, book group ate up my evening and I mostly managed to read whilst eating. Both lunch at my desk and over a quick bowl of leftover chili. It's also National Walk to Work Week so I am wearing a pedometer (the walking bit is the norm for me) so we can compete at work. I was going to add my daily steps to my updates but managed to accidentally reset the damn thing twice yesterday, so had to guess. I suppose I can apdate you on approximate miles... Also, hard to walk and read at the same time, one is going to suffer.

Pages read today: 54 (the shame!)Books finished: 0Books: Stray Souls by Kate GriffinFirst sentence read: There had been some time spent on the Internet.Last sentence read: It was an altar, inescapable and true, an altar in the shop floor of a Tanning Salon in Tooting.Miles walked: 5.7Hours spent talking about books: 2Twitter chats: 0.25

Tuesday

I will not get stressed. I will not get stressed... Slightly better than yesterday but sat down to read only to spend over an hour on Twitter. I wouldn't have chosen Stray Souls for a readathon book but I started it on Saturday thinking I would at least be near the end by Monday. It's good, and amusing, but it's not a fast read and there is small font on many pages. Fingers crossed I can move onto the teeny tiny books tonight! I also fell asleep reading so not sure if my last sentence is my last sentence...

So I chose to re-design Paper Aeroplanes for todays challenge. 1. because it is a recent read and 2. I knew I had a paper aeroplane photo on my Flickr account that I could use in a hurry. I do think the original suits the book, especialy with its 90s setting. My cover is more reflective of the current contemporary YA designs you see a lot of now. As it's a rush job, I so would re-do the taglines if I was doing it properly.

Original Cover:

I finished a book! Then another (teeny tiny) one! Operation read digital shorts looks like it could be a success...if only I had started on Monday instead of carrying on with the book I started at the weekend. I also visited some new blogs, looked at Monsters Inc tees on Threadless, chatted on Twitter and did a challenge. Go me!

Pages read today: 177 approxBooks finished: 2Books: Stray Souls by Kate Griffin + Crossing the Line by Katie McGarryFirst sentence read: Swift scowled but made no reply.Last sentence read: Our lips move against each other's, and in between breaths I say to her, "I'll send you three."Total challenges: 1Books that magically appeared: 2

Thursday

Acrostic Poem Challenge:

OK, let me explain. Harley Bear's example poem was on a vertical text spine which I liked, so I had a rummage about for similar designs amongst my shelves. Without spending too long I found Ink and Out. I had just seen a bus with otters on the side (it said "New for 2013! Otters!" which made me laugh). So poor readathon brain put two and two together. It's not really a poem but hey, it's fun.

I feel like such a cheat with these teeny tiny books but look at my progress. Actually The New Hunger (prequel to Warm Bodies) is proper novella length and if bloody good (not just some filler like some of them are). There were feels.

OK I didn't read the challenge before gleefully collecting books from my shelves, so this doesn't really count for today's challenge of genre book spine poetry :( But I did miss out on Monday's challenge, so here it is. I'm pretty sure book spine poetry is the best reason to not stop buying books...because we'd soon run out of poems!

Mayhem, it chooses you.

Half sick of shadows.

Hush, hush, go to sleep innocent traitor.

Not as much reading as I would have liked today. Instead I got my haircut, went to greengrocers and then discovered a loose leaf tea shop just round the corner. Drank copious amounts of cherry infused green tea. Made the Bout of Books Twitter chat. And then the evening was taken over by Doctor Who (finally got good) and of course, Eurovision in the company of Twitter, cheese and wine. And yes, I did get into Twitter jail, it was traumatic. I was desperate to tweet about the man in the box but had the wait for the reset to kick in. I also woke up this morning to find the last thing I googled was Chow Chows...

Pages read today: 264Books finished: 6Books: Stray Souls by Kate Griffin + Crossing the Line by Katie McGarry + The New Hunger by Issac Marion + The Witches Betrayal by Cassandra Rose Clarke + The Automaton's Treasure by Cassandra Rose Clarke + Billy and Me by Giovanna FletcherFirst sentence read: Over the next week I barely see Billy as the previews of his show start.Last sentence read: Molly once said to grab every opportunity that comes my way - on this occasion, I think I'll take that advice literally...she'd have liked that.

Sunday

Read Winter Damage. Brilliant. Started The 5th Wave. Also brilliant so far. I had a bit of a book hangover after Winter Damage and also felt a bit like I needed a little break from books. So I watched Game of Thrones for a bit...but then when I started The 5th Wave, I'd wish I'd done so sooner. Itching to get back to it now. Alien invasions rock.

I think I've managed to be more varied this Bout of Books. Done a few challenges, managed to get round blogs every day, most importantly blogs that are not my usual crowd, socialised on Twitter and read some fo the books I said I would. I think I'm going to book a few days off work during the next one though. I am obsessed dedicated! With all the stuff going on, I haven't read more than a normal week though, if I'm honest probably a bit less in page count terms.

Pages read today: 375 approxBooks finished: 7Books: Stray Souls by Kate Griffin + Crossing the Line by Katie McGarry + The New Hunger by Issac Marion + The Witches Betrayal by Cassandra Rose Clarke + The Automaton's Treasure by Cassandra Rose Clarke + Billy and Me by Giovanna Fletcher + Winter Damage by Natasha Carthew + The 5th Wave by Rick YanceyFirst sentence read: There was good in this world and there was evil but the young girl had not yet learnt the difference.Last sentence read: Sammy was the youngest, but there were seven other kids, none except me older than fourteen.

28 comments:

"Do not waste hours clicking around on the internet without purpose." THIS, ELLIE. THIS. This shall be my mantra for the Bout of Books week. Or at least for the first day, while my resolve is strong. :)

Ellie this is a great stack of books to choose from! I wish my library had Kinsella's Wedding Night in already, it would have been a great one to read for this. I'm also happy that you're reading books by Rose Clarke. I can't wait to get started on The Pirate's Wish! I also need to try and stay off the internet too otherwise I'm going to get no reading done! Good luck with your goals Ellie! :)

Wow you have a nice selection of books. I just have two that I would like to finish this week. I'm going to try to not spend as much time on the computer this week either so I can read as much as possible.

lol - 'Do not waste hours clicking around on the internet without purpose'Perfect. I need that on my goal list!Looks like you've got a really fun stack of books! Crossing The Line is a nice read, and I wish I had Billy & Me on my list. It sounds so interesting!

My first day of the readathon was also a slow one. I only managed to read 7% of my book all day. So bad! But I've already read more today and still have the entire night after dinner to read, also it's only early so we can do better! Also there's another book spines poetry challenge on Saturday as I missed yesterdays one and was gutted. That chilly has made my belly growl so dinner it is and onto more reading! Good luck! :)

I think there's another book spine poem challenge coming later in the week. And hey, 54 isn't bad at all! It's progress. :-) I had a really good day yesterday, but hardly got any reading in today. Hopefully can get that kindle % count up by the end of tonight!

Haha, I didn't get chance to do the challenge yesterday either. I'd been out all day, and I looked at it and sighed and just went... "Nope. Not going to happen." I've done today's music one, which was SO GOOD except it meant I spent ages on iTunes instead of reading. Oh well...

Hope you had another lurvely day with some good reading, O Fellow Ellie, I'll be back to cheer some more yet... :)

Love your book list, the covers are so pretty! I also like Sophie Kinsella's stand alones, I haven't tried Shopaholic yet. Your goals are fantastic and I need to adopt both of these:De-stressDo not waste hours clicking around on the internet without purpose

Don't worry Ellie, I still haven't finished a single book yet either, but started about 5! Like Victoria mentioned there is another book spine poetry challenge set for one day this week, I can't remember the day. I hope you get loads more reading done today! :)

Oooh I love your Paper Aeroplanes cover! :-) It definitely looks like an actual cover, and you're right about it feeling very like current designs we see around at the moment. I think I might be the only person who didn't take this challenge entirely seriously... ^^

Hope you manage to get onto your tiny books soon! The quotes from Stray Souls do make it sound very intriguing though, hope you're enjoying it. Have fun with today's reading! :-)

I like your "first sentence-last sentence" section. (In my reading journal, I write down the first sentence of book I read as well as the very last sentence of the story :) ) Also I guess I should travel to England to be able to get me some of those Skittles... First time I ever see this kind. I loooove me some Skittles, and they don't even sell them here in Finland.

Otters Under Threat... Oh Ellie, that was worth a visit all on its own. *chuckles merrily* I'm not sure which I like more, the poem or the explanation. :D

Awesomeballs reading, go you! *cheers a little bit* And yeah, that is some seriously huge muffin that counter's working with. My Sainsbury's ones are big - the bakery ones, not the pre-packaged ones you find on the branded cake shelves - and they're about 415 calories each. Is the counter American or something?!

Curiosity Killed the Bookworm is a personal blog written and edited by Ellie Warren. All opinions are those of the author. Products and invitations to events may be accepted and kept, however receipt of such does not alter the views shown. No profits are made from this blog and should any sponsored content be featured in future, it will be clearly marked as such.